ABSTRACT

The biosensors can be classified according to the biological active compound and type of transducer used. Optical biosensors are based on the detection of changes on absorbing electromagnetic radiation in visible/infrared and between reactants and reaction produced by the measurement of light emission from a luminescent process. Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in metal nanoparticles has been widely employed for analytics, biocatalytic process, analysis of biomolecules, monitoring of local properties of biomaterials and bioanalytical applications. LSPR sensors have the advantage of not requiring microfabrication, achieving significant impact in several biological areas, including proteomics, point-of-care diagnostics, and drug discovery. Integration of aptamers with optical nanomaterials include quantum dots, metal nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, and silica nanoparticles represents some examples of materials that can be used for fabricating aptamer-based biosensors with plasmonic nanostructures.